This was the "BGP Mountain Aire II Music Festival". Frogtown fairground (named for the Twain story) was a foothills meadow just N of Melones Reservoir, in Calaveras County. David Lindley & El Rayo-X opened, who were popular as a live band (though many record collections had either the 1st blue one or Win this Record). Then there was a great Santana set. After the heights reached so far in July & August you wouldn't expect that to continue, and it didn't, but these two shows were way laid back compared to the previous weeks, and had/have their own charm. Sources are not great. The show is known for the return of School Girl – the first without Pigpen

First Set. Phil is quite ready on the Touch opener. Little Red Rooster is uptempo and electrified – a must-hear. Phil jumps in on vox for Tons of Steel. This song is at its peak right here [and almost as good as 7/26]. Friend of the Devil is tight enough for government work, but the Bobby/Brent solos are not as impressive as elsewhere this year. My Brother Esau is nice, if the timing's just a bit off. The rest of this set is money; a great Tennessee and a wonderful Bird Song, with a few peaks. Santana then joins for the first Good Morning School Girl in 17yrs. In fact it was not played again for 5yrs. That + Carlos means this is the only one that sounds like this! Midnight Hour is the second of the year, and was then played just once in '88, nearly a year later. If not as slick as School Girl, this is a must-hear-once, as Carlos takes another solo then trades with Jer.

Second Set. At the time, Hellina was their second video sent to MTV [though the second single was actually the 7" version of Throwing Stones]. It was aired a few times but did not take off like Touch. Here Bobby is in fine stage form and it's a tour best, and his show peak. Note that this and Push Comes to Shove are usually a first set intro pair in this era. Jer is just getting going but Bobby is down to end-of-tour talk-sing and drama for Estimated. Eyes is average to shaky, with little excitement to note, though the end of the jam into Drums works. Space is brief before Jer starts quoting The Other One. The latter is short, but the best of the back end is this Goin' Down the Road. The rest are average run-throughs, though U.S. Blues has enough to send 'em onto Shakedown Street happy. It looks like a longer set on paper.

1st Set:  B
2nd Set: C+
Overall = 3⅓ stars

Highlights:
Little Red Rooster – uptempo and electrified
Tennessee Jed – Jer soaks the atmosphere, spits it back
Bird Song – a few peaks
Good Morning School Girl – Santana helps big return, also adds to Midnight Hour
Hell in a Bucket – Bobby featuring fine form

SOURCES: The 151075_fob_senn is a slight upgrade in places [it's a patch-in to the board, not an AUD]. The miller_103628 is the more recent upgrade. The drums are not as low/muddy as with the Betamax transfers, but it has a mistake in the track at the end of Masterpiece, and a mono error at the start of Hellina.

sang a little while and then flew on.

Wow this was a HOT weekend. Temperature, music and space was all up there in the Sierra foothills at Calaveras County Fairgrounds. Went with my best buddy and his wife in their relatives motorhome and so many memories (both forgotten and not). He passed away a couple years ago but we often reminisced and laughed about the wonder time we had. Go awesome to see and hear Santana and the Dead and having Carlos come out for Good Morning Little Schoolgirl will always be a highlight memory for me.

I was there and it was a great strange trip.
Drove all night with 3 Newbies.
Santana was awesome and when Good Morning Little Schoolgirl was reignited, OMG!!!!! How can you call this Wonderful sound board recording anything but SPECIAL!
Keep your negativity at Home

If the rest of the show was as good as the Schoolgirl/Midnight, this would be a 5 easy. As it is, it's a fairly run-of-the-mill '87 show with a brilliant couple of songs. Great recording.

I was at both of these shows!!! what fun they where...OMG!!

beautiful sound

a nice masterpiece and jammed out bird song

peace